Spill the Beans Part 2

Podcast Transcription

Dave: Girl scout, is that a clue?

Male: Cookies.

Narrator: Welcome to Flipping Off, a purpose driven podcast about flipping houses and making a difference.

Dave: All right, well we're back. A couple weeks ago we're sitting here talking, there all these questions. I got a pile of questions in front of me again. And Melina and I, we were just sitting here laughing because we're reviewing the last podcast and Christian is the only person I know whose birds fly north in the winter.

Christian: I wanted to make sure you guys were paying attention.

Dave: That's what it was. What we did this last week is because Christian's grown up in a world of GPS so he doesn't actually have to know what north, south, east, or west and which way the sun rises. For you Christian which direction does the sun rise?

Christian: West.

Dave: The sun rises in the west?

Melina: No.

Dave: Only for Christian. So everybody get that.

Christian: Another test.

Dave: He's the guy that goes against the grain.

Melina: Exactly, two concepts.

Christian: But unique, guys, be unique...

Dave: All right, so, here we go. We got some questions, let's get right to it. And if you're listening to this one go back listen to "Spill the Beans" part one and this will be "Spill the Beans" part two here so we can have some more questions get answered. All right, well we're gonna start with what we get asked a lot. I'm gonna go to Celine on this one because I remember us talking about this before in the past but I get this a bunch, especially. And people come to the club introductions, they send emails later, they ask at club meetings, and where can I get all those forms and contracts that you guys all get and you place all these offers with, where can I just get all those things? Celine.

Celine: Hey, hi guys.

Dave: Hi.

Celine: So, yeah I remember back in the day when we started that was one of the worries that crossed our mind for a moment. But what I can say right now is don't worry about that because once you find a potential lead what you actually need to do is just go and partner with one of the senior investors, which is what we did with Myke Van Ness and with you and Melina. Unless you are having the money on your bank account and you are going to buy the property with your own money at your own risk then yes, worry then ask for the forms, right? I mean, that's the easiest answer. So you're actually partnering with the senior investor for the purpose of that investor is going to assume all the risk and put the money and their name so the form shouldn't even be a concern.

Dave: Got it. So if you're listening, forms and contracts, it's so good. Because I don't know how many seminars we actually went to, honey, where that was what it was all about, right? Like hand us this big book full of all these forms and we felt like we had value.

Melina: Right, and I think it's important because I believe that as a strategy. Well, I know it's a strategy we learned in one of the other seminars we went to was just write the contracts and then don't worry about really how you're going to follow through with it and it's truly the opposite of what I believe. I always tell students don't make an offer you're not willing to close on. So if you're not really willing to close on the offer or you're not able to close on the offer then don't make it. Because otherwise, you're just wasting your time, your resources, and that of others that are around you.

Celine: Yeah. Right.

Dave: Yeah, I always tell people to think about it this way. If you're going to write a contract and put a number in that contract that better be your money that you're doing. Because otherwise, you're really...you also are doing the community, real estate investors as a whole you're really doing a disservice to all of them.

Melina: That's right, that's where we get a bad name.

Dave: Yeah, because you're throwing numbers out there and then we meet people all the time especially wholesalers right, who are trying to wholesale properties to us that aren't in the club, don't know what they're doing, they went out and took a wholesaling class so they just throw any number on a piece of paper, try to wrap their property up, and then get us to bite at any one of those numbers. So you were gonna add to that John?

John: Yeah, I mean for Celine and I when we first started because we were so green about real estate. If somebody had given us the forms and the contracts we'd have been super impressed and we maybe even would have used them at some stage without actually knowing what the heck they meant anyway. You know, so it would've been detrimental to us to actually have them because we probably would've used them in the wrong position.

Dave: Well, there you go. Well, because we mentioned you got something else you wanna add?

Male: Yeah, the contract it reminds me of something Melina told me once about contracts. And, basically, because I've got some pretty powerful contracts now because I've done a lot of creative things, but Melina told me one time that giving...when I first started getting involved in this, giving me a contract would've been like handing a loaded weapon to a toddler, that's basically what she told me. And it made sense because I remember going to seminars. Specifically I remember one seminar and when I went to buy, they gave me a list of all these contracts, it was two pages worth of contracts. Like a list two pages long worth of contracts that they were gonna give me.

And I was so excited and I went and I got all the contracts and I was so afraid to use the contracts. I never did anything because I didn't really understand what they were and it wasn't until I started plugging into somebody else who was not afraid to put their name on it, that's the first thing. But after the fact now I look back at like that package of contracts and I was so excited. And you know what kind of contracts were in there?

The W-2, the W-9, you know, regular, normal, everyday forms, nothing special, there was nothing special in those forms and nothing...when it came down to the actual like purchase contracts and things like that there was nothing in there that was specific to the deal that I'm working on today. And now I have to go write my own contracts anyways for the deal I'm working on. So none of that mattered at all. None of it mattered at all in hindsight. But I remember being super excited and I bought programs because of a special contract that they were gonna give me that was gonna make me a million dollars.

Dave: Wow, well, we touched on it, thank you, guys. We touched on and I said the word wholesale in there somewhere and there are some questions in here, Myke, specifically about wholesaling. You being, you know, the top dog if you will in the club as far as wholesaling and done the most wholesales and I know you don't know how many that is but it's...obviously you've done a lot.

There's so many questions about wholesaling from when's it a good option, should that be my starting strategy, and then how do I go about building a list, and I hear Myke talk about it all the time but I'm really confused on this whole wholesaling idea and there's even a question like how do I shortcut this. And so maybe you could just talk on kind of that list of random questions I got here from all these different people about wholesaling.

Myke: Yeah, absolutely because when I started this business, you know, for me I'm like, "Well, I don't have any money and I don't know how to fix a house." And I had been to other seminars and stuff and they were like, "Oh yeah, just be a wholesaler." I'm like, "Okay, yeah, sure I'll just do that." Not knowing what that actually means. You know and at the end of the day, you just have to acquire the lead. You know, yes, I focus on wholesaling because it was an exit strategy for me. So I was the wholesaler but I still need to tie up the property. And I could have chose to flip it, I just chose to wholesale it because of those specific deals I was dealing with at the time.

I think it's more of a buzz word than anything today, you know kinda like what Tim was saying, I hold the contracts yeah. And I see so many other gurus and people online and things out there, pitching contracts or saying wholesaling as really a sales tactic because they want you to buy their whatever, which is...

Melina: Their boot camp for the weekend.

Myke: Right, and you know 9 times out of 10, those contracts are useless. I would never even use, I would never touch those with a 10-foot pole because it just opens you up for so much liability. You know, the same thing with wholesaling it's like, "Oh, I can just do this," well you can lose money in wholesaling too actually. So having people look over your shoulder, having help and assistance and having a senior investor, somebody that knows more than you, help you put together a deal it's extremely powerful. And even yeah...I mean, gosh, the first wholesale I did I went to Melina, I went to Mike Bagley, went to a couple different people to get help in putting it together because I didn't know what I didn't know and that was scary for me.

And another thing too I know a lot of people ask you like, "Myke, a buyers' list, like, I just need a buyers' list, I need a massive big buyers' list." And honestly I think that's completely incorrect, I think that's completely wrong. A big buyers' list is, to be honest with you, pretty useless. What you need is the right buyers' list. Because what I've learned in this business is, yeah, I could market a property to hundreds of people but I don't have any relationships with them, can they close, are they good people, are they gonna stab me in the back, are they gonna try to rip me off, like what are their intentions? There's no way for me to have a relationship with hundreds of people.

So 9 times out of 10, when I wholesale, even I know when Melina wholesales too, like we have our top 4 or 5 people we call that can execute, that we trust, that we have a relationship with. And to be honest with you I'm completely okay selling them everything because I know that my deal is not at risk, whereas if I just blasted it out to the world, who knows who's on the other receiving end of that email line? And not everybody has the best intentions for you, definitely outside of our club, people, you know, they wanna tear, destroy, and steal from you is the bottom line.

Dave: It does feel like that sometimes for sure. So what you're really saying is that buyers' list it really is to go back to that relationships no matter what. And we say it over and over and over this business is all about relationships. And so, those of you that are looking at wholesaling, I would speak to this and say you got to find the lead. That's why when we teach, you know, if you come to our initial training or if you're listening to this and you've been to the initial training you see the way in chronology, if you will, we start from the very beginning, we're talking about...first of all we set the foundation of our relationship, right? This is what we expect and then let's move forward.

Number two, we gotta go find leads. We don't teach you, go wrap up a property so you can wholesale it, go find this type of deal so you can make this creative property or subject to or this. We find leads, we evaluate that lead and then we back into the acquisition and/or the exit strategy that we're working on. And that's so backwards from where we've been to, we've gone to so many seminars where we've literally bought seminars for this strategy. And, well, it sounded good, right? We're like, "We're in, that's a good..."

Melina: Except it was irrelevant, it didn't work in California.

Dave: Yeah. We've been down that route. I mean if you guys haven't heard this before I was saying, you know, we've been there, done that, bought the money or bought the seminars and gone to the gurus and gone to the hotels and all that other stuff. And so, which leads me to my next question. I'm actually gonna bring this one to...I'm gonna start with Cathy on this one. And she's looking at me going, "Oh, god, what? So, Cathy, you talk to a lot of students, you answer, you know, a lot of the questions in emails and phone calls, all that good stuff that we get.

And I've heard it, I know I've heard you answer it but what makes this club and this place so different? Like people sometimes will call, maybe they get an introduction down to the club or it's their first time checking out and they call you and then they're looking for maybe confirmation or something like that. So what's different about the club versus I mean all these other people that are on TV and gurus and I get emails and all this stuff. What would you say to somebody who calls you up and asks you about that? What's different about this place?

Cathy: Well, the first thing is they're talking to me. No.

Dave: That's true.

Cathy: It is true, you know you call the club and you're gonna talk to somebody, you're gonna talk to me, you're gonna talk to Frank, you're gonna talk to Adriana, you're gonna talk to somebody.

Dave: Not a random line a 1-800 number?

Cathy: Right, and you're gonna get the truth. You know, whatever your question is it's going to get answered. You know, like, I don't really know real estate questions so when people call me I don't really have the answer, it's like let me pass the message on or let me find the answer for you. That's the first thing for me that sets us apart from anybody because people want to talk to people. You know they want to call and talk to somebody that's real, somebody that's gonna be honest. So that's the first thing that sets us apart besides we have a physical office.

If you don't want to call us you can come down 2900 Adams and you'll see me. You'll open the door and you'll see me. Besides us being there at the office and having a real place to come to the whole club is filled with ordinary, regular people wanting to be extraordinary. They wanna do something bigger in life, they have hopes and dreams and they just don't know how to get there, they don't know how to accomplish it. You come to a place where there's people that already are either on that journey or very close to whatever it is they're wanting to do in life and you just imitate that to the best of your ability and you, you know...yeah.

Dave: Very cool, all right, well, thank you. I got a question here that says so tell us like you guys always talk about teams and you guys are building teams and I don't know what it means to be on a team and then on top of it why are you guys actually building teams? Because I'm sitting here looking at Cathy and Frank's sitting right beside her, I'm gonna throw that at Frank. So help people understand teams and how will they become part of a team and what does that look like and why are you building a team yourself and so forth.

Frank: Well, I know last episode we covered our relationships and those relationships are going to spawn our teams so in working with you guys for years. And you know the only reason I did this is because I've known Dave for so long and just his integrity and everything I...you know, we talked about overcoming doubt and skepticism, I never had any doubt or skepticism. The only doubt or skepticism I had was about me if I was gonna be able to do it.

Just getting mentored by the right people, you know, Dave and Melina, they really were just there for me to make sure that...and that was based on relationship, it wasn't about money, it wasn't about anything, it was about me being able to provide for my family and do this so getting to be a part of their team to be begin with and then them pouring into me, letting me be able to model that for the people that I'm working with like working with Myke Van Ness, back when he was very young and then meeting Jason and now most currently working with Daniel, Monique, Joe. Just everything that they've taught me on how to build business relationships and it not being about the dollar. Because when you get focused on the dollar and you lose focus of people that's not gonna be a good thing, you're going down a bad road that's gonna not end well.

So as long as you stick focused on those relationships and people, putting people first, those are the kind of teams that we're looking to build. So I'll just say for me when I'm speaking with somebody that's, you know I'm the operations manager. So having a team's very important for me. So in pouring into other people, it's really...I have a lot of experience with making sure I have the right team so I can organize my time, getting people that have strength where I'm weak into my team, very important. So, you know, just when I'm talking to somebody who's called the office and wants to work with us, you know, for me it's not...people are closing deals there every day, every week all of us that are there including club members with senior investors.

So I would just say, you know, why would I want to add you to my team? So in order for me to find that out, I need to get to know that person. So that's why we created the club.

You know there's gonna be meetings, you're gonna come to get to know people because maybe we don't know right away where you're gonna fit in, but we'll figure it out as we get to know you and your strengths and weaknesses. Start to show up and we can put you where it's gonna be a good fit for everybody.

Dave: Yeah, I think that's really key, right. So for me and I'm sure Melina would piggy back on this. But one of the things when I grow reluctant especially when people will wanna...we always get asked you know like how can I be a part of this, how can I be part of that, but then people come and then they disappear. We have a lot going on inside the club when it comes to meetings and mastermind meetings and all of our additional classes and, obviously, our classes are not included in our membership, they're not required or anything like that. They're just there but at some point, that really needs to be somebody's thought process. Like I wanna to run a business there's all these other classes and things that are happening in the club. If I want to be an entrepreneur I wanna plug into every single thing I can so I can get to those relationships.

Apprehension sets in at least for me when I see somebody join and I don't see them for three months you know. And then they come back and they actually act like they know me. You know. "Oh hey, Dave, how is it going?" And I'm like, "I kind of remember you but I really...you know, I'm sorry, I can't remember your name." You know? And I think that's maybe a...I don't know what the word or how to articulate what that looks like, but Frank hit on, you know, you've gotta plug in. We can find strengths and weaknesses and then those of us that are looking for strengths and weaknesses in our teams or things that can add value, right, as a new person that's really when you got what you're looking for is how can I add value to a team that's already working?

These people are here, they're running a business and I want to run a business so how can I add value to them and not come from a perspective of I...just the other day somebody I haven't seen them for an entire year, right? Just came in, "I'm just, I'm getting plugged back in. Hey what about this, what about this, what about this?" And I'm like, "It's so rude that you haven't been here for an entire year and you just hit me with like 13 questions in the hallway in the middle of a meeting."

Female: Yeah, you know what? I think if I were gonna say to me this comes down to people really...we don't expect you to know or to even understand what value you bring. When you show up, that's the value. So I think what you're really saying and I think people get confused with this is I don't want people to hear that we have some expectation of some skill set that you bring, that is not it. It is we just want you to show up. Like you know with this club was built on our backs through our blood, sweat, and tears and so we just want you to show up.

If you show up that's and when I look around this room and I go, "We're a bunch of like messy misfits in here, you know there ain't no...perfectly imperfect people." And so there's lots of extraordinary...everybody in here is extraordinary, but nobody has some outstanding skill set where I go, "That right there is the one thing we're missing, that's what we need." It's not that, it is we're looking for people that have the same mindset and the same heart, drive, and commitment that we do, that's all. It's really that simple.

Dave: Right, now with that heart, drive, and commitment that's where the priorities show up. So we produce a schedule a quarter in advance. Right? So four months out there's a schedule produced and I actually get people who'll be talking to me and they go, "When's the next meeting?" Right? I immediately go to that person does not have the right mindset to run this business it hasn't shifted to a priority.

If I go back a few weeks ago we're talking to John and Celine and they were saying you know, "We've had a few hours here and a few hours here and a few hours here." If you're gonna do this business that few hours as many times as practical needs to plug into that business and now what we've made it, it's ridiculous, at least silly now. I can't make a club meeting, awesome. Well, guess what? They're streamed, they're recorded, right? When they're recorded like you should be jumping on there and sharing, "Hey, I just watched this video," and either, "Here's a question I got from something I missed that I would have liked to ask you know in that session," or, "Here's something I got from it and that I'm applying to my business."

Those are the people that we look at and go, "That's how you build relationships, that's how you build teams," because teams they naturally happen. I don't go out looking for somebody like Melina said, "Oh, there's the 'aha' moment, that person can do this for me." Or I look around this room and look at the teams and how people work together I don't think any one of you sat down and said, "I gotta go find a particular player for a particular position." So anyways...

Melina: Were you gonna add something, Tim? Oh, Cathy?

Dave: Cathy you wanna add something, go for it.

Cathy: What you're talking about, Dave. Usually, when you show up at the club somebody's natural gift just appears and that's usually how you know that's the person I want for my team. Because what your core purpose is or what you're gifted at doing shows up at the club and attracts other club members to put you on your team.

Dave: Yeah. I say it all the time and I'll always say it, obviously, it's just my total belief. But if you're gonna do this business your top five friends, the people you spend the most time with in your life need to be doing this business. And I look around this room and go, yeah, I pretty much hang out with all of you, all the time. You know. All right, well moving on from that I wanted to go back to one... All right, so I can piggy back on this one but I don't wanna keep talking.

So, common question, entities, and entity formations, S-Corp, should I be an S-Corp, should I be a C-Corp, do I need an LLC, do I go to Delaware, Wyoming, Nevada, what do I do, where do I go, what am I doing, this last seminar told me to do this, I have three LLCs already and you told me I don't need one, what should I do? Is there anyone that wants to take that so I don't have to talk on that topic for the whole time?

Male: Tim or Oscar could. Come on, guys.

Melina: Because they're the oldest.

Male: I was just gonna say get to class. That's a huge question.

Dave: Yes, there's a bunch there. Go ahead, John.

John: For Celine and I, I mean, we didn't know when was the right time, you know. And we sought guidance from those senior members within the club. We trusted in people's advice that said, "Hey, you're not closing the deal in your name anyway so right now you don't need that asset protection, you know you have no liability on that deal." So you know when the timing's right and Myke, he became my coach and my mentor and said, "You know when the time's right we'll talk about that. We'll talk about the entity because you need to be making enough money that makes sense that you now have it." And as we closed some deals and we piggy-backed off of Myke you know our taxes were taken care of through that side working with Myke.

But now it became a point where Myke said, "Hey, we're closing some deals next year, you know we're just about to go through Christmas and the new year we've got some stuff in the pipeline, you need to get your entity sorted out. So here's Mark Holder's details and you need an S-Corp rather than a C-Corp or an LLC for this, for that, for this," and we got it solved. We then used a professional to take care of it for us.

Dave: Yeah well go on, Frank.

Frank: Well, I'll just tell you what's not the right time. It's when the moment you decided to be, get into real estate that's not the time to go and sign for an entity. Because that's what I did and it took me a long time to undo all that and pay the penalties because I didn't know how to use that, I hadn't been educated on that. Because I got laid off from my job in 2009 and I was like, I'm gonna do real estate and I don't know what this looks like but I need a corp right? I mean I've read that I've been to seminars in the '90s and I kind of remember that so I got one. I was working with Kevin at the time we got that, so we had to sit down and have a meeting and cover all the stuff. How do we undo all this stuff and so yes...?

Female: We could make a lot of money.

Frank: Yes, definitely don't go and get a corporation to start because there's just no point I mean and there's penalties for that.

Dave: I would say this, think about it this way when you first come or when you're getting your first deals done, I don't care whether you join the club tomorrow or whether you joined the club a year ago and you're working on closing your first deals. I know this that if you need money behind that deal you're gonna need to have some credibility. Right, so, 99% of the people that come to the club don't have the ability to write a check for a house. So they're going to have to go get funding somehow. That funding is generally found through either hard money or private money and both of those are gonna require some sort of credibility.

If you can't show them credibility in that you've closed deals and have a track record, they're gonna want something whether it's skin in the game by you having money and/or some sort of track record with that and if you're working with someone else they have those relationships already to be able to go get that funding. And they're gonna be using one of their entities so it's really not a necessary expense for anybody to go jump into.

So the question that you know is here multiple times and listening to this, don't go set up an entity, when the time is right any one of the coaches or senior investors or anyone of us are going to tell you, "Hey, now's time to go get some advice," and I'm not giving you legal or accounting advice here, that's my disclaimer. But we'll point you in the right direction at the right time based on our experiences. But setting one up now so you can pay California 800 bucks a year and do a tax return is just a waste of money and especially when you don't pay them, right, Frank?

Frank: That's right.

Dave: Because they come back years later. Okay, so let's see what's my next question here? At the end of our last podcast, honey, you made a statement that you were gonna tell people how we met.

Melina: I know but we're out of time so.

Dave: No, we're not out of time, not at all we're not out of time. In fact, you said you were gonna say how did we meet. You told them two weeks ago that you were gonna tell them. And Kevin sitting back there has known us since 17, he doesn't know, Frank doesn't know. So I am so interested right now, I have been sitting on pins and needles just wondering what on earth is she going to come up with because I know she's not gonna tell how we actually met.

Male: Let's hear the unicorn story, come on Melina.

Dave: The unicorn story the one of the...

Melina: Where we talk about being real. The truth is we met in Zanadu. Yes.

Dave: What are you talking about?

Male: Is that the never ending story?

Melina: Yes, Zanadu.

Male: Xenia.

Female: Zanadu yes, that's it...

Dave: I have no idea what about.

Melina: Zanadu, it's because you were too young, babe, but trust me...

Dave: Wait a minute, hold on too young? What does that mean?...

Male: Citizen Kane...

Male: I heard something about a teen mom.

Dave: He went there.

Melina: He did. He...

Dave: There are a lot of running jokes around this.

Melina: I know. Every...

Male: I've never seen Melina sweat before.

Melina: You've seen me sweat all the time, I'm in menopause.

Dave: I can't believe you went there.

Melina: Yeah, well.

Dave: Well, I always say the math doesn't work, you know, I'm a grandpa and the math doesn't work, don't try to figure it out because...

Melina: Okay, so I'm older than Dave and there you have it everybody wanted to know, so there it is.

Dave: But what's the story?

Melina: Well, the story is we're in the same decade not very often, so there you have it. And as it is right now we are in the same decade, thankfully, so, yeah.

Dave: What does that have to do with how we met though?

Melina: I'm trying to you know go down a different path.

Dave: So you're clearly avoiding that?

Melina: Totally avoiding it.

Dave: Just put the rumors to rest when you talk about the...you weren't actually...

Melina: All right, I was not your teen mom and when we met... Yes okay so let's just go there. I was not a chaperone at any prom of yours. And, so let's see what else are the running jokes that we... Can you believe that, that these people have said those things to me? Josh, can you even believe it? It's awful, I know.

Dave: You weren't his nanny.

Melina: Oh wow, okay, so yes. Just FYI I'm not that much older, but you know, he was...

Dave: I wasn't the coolest kid in school dating the chick and graduating college.

Melina: I was never a substitute teacher that was said. Yes, let's see, none of those are the truth. It was just we met through some mutual friends, that's the truth. And he was in his 20s, we were both in our 20s when we met, so how's that?

Dave: And they're not getting any other details.

Melina: Well, I'll have to think it through. I'll have to think through...

Dave: What was our first date?

Melina: Our first date was a Garth Brookes concert.

Dave: End of story.

Melina: Drop the mic.

Dave: Drop the mic right there.

Dave: With that, we are gonna call this done, I'm gonna let her off the hook because there's no way she's gonna actually tell you all of it see toe.

Male: She just walked out the room, guys.

Dave: So, calling it a day. With that, we're going to call this a wrap. We have a bunch more questions here, I'm not sure whether or not we're going to do this as a part three or maybe we'll pick this up at another time but there's a ton of questions. In fact here's what I'll do for you guys that are listening, if you have questions that you'd like us to cover in future podcasts and no Mark don't write any more, we want more details about how we met because I know you will. But...

Melina: Mark asked the question how does Sam get on our bed.

Dave: Sam is our dog, by the way.

Male: Who's Sam?

Dave: So if you want you can send us an email at info, I-N-F-O, @newwealthadvicors.com and maybe we can feature some of them in future podcasts or in club meetings and we'll see what it looks like as we go through all of these piles of questions here. With that, we're gonna call it a wrap.

Melina: Peace out, Girl Scout.

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